English stories 58 fear of the dark trevor baxendale

FEAR OF THE DARK TREVOR BAXENDALE Prologue Every dream exists on the precipice of nightmare Nowhere else but in the subconscious is the divide between comfort and horror so narrow, and so fragile It is almost as if a dream is just waiting to be toppled, its hopes dashed, its promises broken Nyssa sometimes dreamed of Traken, but the dream always tipped over into nightmare And the nightmare always ended the same way: she would be hurrying through the gardens and cloisters, calling for her parents, warning them of the disaster she knew was coming But no one could hear her Worst of all, she couldn't even find her parents In her dreams, her mother was still there, a halfremembered face made clear by the imagination But in the nightmare, Nyssa couldn't find her She ran and ran, and searched every secret garden and grove, all the while knowing that time was running out Her father had disappeared too In his study sat a man with a dark beard and even darker eyes He would laugh at her when she arrived, breathless and soundless, at the very moment Traken vanished from the heavens And she saw that as if from a distance, the whole planet fading away into the awful blackness of space as if it had never existed Nyssa woke up, breathing raggedly, the bed sheets tight around her sweating body She was shivering, although it wasn't cold It was dark, but she had her eyes shut anyway There was something nagging at her memory, something she had read in one of the books in the TARDIS library Nyssa usually stuck to the extensive science journals and textbooks, but she had come across this slender, dusty volume of Earth poetry wedged between Wisden's Almanac and A Brief History of Time only a few days ago It said 'Keats' on the spine, and it had fallen open on a page where two lines had been circled in green ink: The thought The deadly thought of solitude For some reason it had stuck in her mind, and now she realised why When Traken was erased from the cosmos, it had left her the sole remaining person from that world in existence She had felt so very alone She felt alone now, sitting on her bed in the dark, listening to the hum of the TARDIS around her With nothing else to distract her, she was able to concentrate on that noise: the soft reverberation of distant, mysterious engines powering the vessel through the space-time vortex If she listened carefully, she could imagine that the engines were made quiet only by distance, that the almost subliminal hum was just the final echo of massive, churning machinery Somewhere deep in the TARDIS, its ancient dynamos thundered with terrific, unending exertion Nyssa found the image quite disturbing Only then did she realise that normally, on her waking, the TARDIS would automatically activate the lights in her room Softly at first, gradually increasing the lambency as she threw off sleep But now it was pitch black She couldn't see a thing And yet she had the feeling, growing in intensity, that she was not alone Is there anybody there?' she heard herself asking plaintively There was no reply Nyssa pulled her knees up and wrapped the sheets around -her more tightly She peered into the gloom, hoping that perhaps her eyes would soon grow a little more used to the dark and she might be able to see something Her ears strained to pick up the slightest sound, but all she could hear was her own heartbeat and the deep, alien breath of the TARDIS 'Wh-where are you?' she asked the darkness There was no reply Nyssa immediately decided that she had imagined a half-formed phantom left over from her dream of Traken The perspiration was cold on the exposed skin of her back now, and she felt a droplet trickle down her spine like an icy caress Why wouldn't the lights come on? Perhaps the TARDIS had malfunctioned; it wouldn't be the first time Her eyes were indeed now more accustomed to the blackness She could just make out the bedclothes in front of her as a dull grey rectangle in the gloom Staring, Nyssa picked out the edge of the bed itself, although beyond it there was nothing but the dark It was exactly the same darkness that Traken had left in its place Nyssa experienced a nauseating sense of peering into an abyss; of her bed floating like a miniature island in an ocean of night And then she saw it At first it was just a smudge of black against the greyness that marked the end of her bed Then it inserted itself like a dark finger into the sheet, plucking at the material as it was dragged along the edge of the mattress Nyssa stopped breathing But she could hear a low, rasping susurration in the air around her There was something in her room with her Something that breathed Rigid with fear, she watched the finger of blackness spread out into something the size of a hand Then it started up the bed towards her, expanding like a dark stain across the bedclothes She cringed as the darkness approached, convinced it would feel cold and wet to the touch And as the blemish crept up towards her, so the shadows gathered around her, above her, behind her Soon she would be submerged in the blackness She opened her mouth to cry out, to call for the Doctor and Tegan But at the last moment she halted, frozen by the sudden, sickening fear that her voice would be as silent as it was in her Traken nightmare The darkness rose up and engulfed her like a shroud The loss of vision was so absolute that, for a long moment, Nyssa thought that her eyes had been taken from her She sat, blind and paralysed with fear Then something in the darkness touched her MESSAGE STARTS 'OK, sweetheart, you can start talking now.' 'Is it on?' 'Yes, it's running You can talk to Daddy now.' 'Will he hear me?' 'Sure he will When this gets to him It'll take a little time, it's got to go a long, long way.' 'How far?' 'To the edge of the galaxy.' 'What if it goes too far and falls off the edge of the galaxy?' 'Galaxy, not galaxy! Now speak up and Daddy will be able to listen to your message later.' 'OK Now? OK Hi Daddy It's Rosie Mummy says you'll see me on your viewer when you get this She says I can talk to you later, too And then you'll be able to talk back That will be better, because I want to ask you some things I've been having bad dreams at night again Last night I dreamed a bear and a lion were chasing me and I was scared Is it silly to be scared of dreams? Mummy lets me sleep in her bed at night but it's still dark I don't like it when it's dark Mummy says there are no bears or lions here but how can you tell if it's so dark? Mummy says you work in caves where it's dark all the time and you're not scared one bit Is that right? How come you're not scared? What if a bear or a lion comes? Please come home soon, Daddy I don't like it when you're away Neither does Kooka His arm's come loose again Mummy says it's going to drop right off soon, so you'd better come back home and fix it real quick I'm out of time now so I've got to say bye Oh, but Daddy, be careful you don't fall off the edge of the galaxy We miss you Bye MESSAGE ENDS PART ONE INTO THE VOID Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried - William Shakespeare Chapter One The dust hadn't settled yet It like a miasma of filth in the cavern, and Stoker thought she was going to choke She managed a dry cough and picked her way through the men clearing away the debris, until she reached the edge of the rock fall A large, broad-shouldered man was helping to shift fallen rocks out of the way, and Stoker tapped him on the shoulder He turned round slowly, eyes fierce above a big jaw covered with a four-day beard His hands were big and solid, covered with dust and scratches Stoker wasn't the least bit bothered 'What the hell d'you think you're playing at, Cheung?' She only ever called him Cheung when she was really annoyed, and he had the good grace to look abashed 'I dunno what went wrong, I'm sorry.' 'You're supposed to be my explosives expert,' Stoker said 'It'll take days to clear up this mess.' 'It's not as bad as it looks.' 'Oh, I forgot, you're the expert!' Stoker laughed harshly '"Ex" as in not any more and "spurt" as in a drip under pressure.' She saw the wounded look even through her anger, and realised it was time to turn it down They didn't need any more fireworks at the moment 'I'll see you later,' she told him, with slightly less rancour Cheung nodded 'How are the casualties?' 'Lucky The woman's just cuts and contusions I'm on my way to check on the other two now They're probably filing a massive compensation claim as we speak.' Cheung smiled grimly Stoker watched him turn to pick up another rock and said, 'Leave that, you big lummox Go and help with the analysers, they could with your muscle.' The big lummox pulled a face and stood up, towering over her Stoker was tall, an easy six feet, but Cheung was like a giant and he could, quite literally, bend iron bars with his bare hands The other men loved him because he combined that kind of physical power with a surprisingly gentle manner and good humour 'Go on,' she told him, whacking the knuckles of her left hand against his shoulder 'Scoot I'll handle this Cheung mock-saluted her and moved off Stoker pushed at a rock with the toe of her boot It was half buried and wouldn't budge She let out a sigh of frustration, then gagged on the dust A figure appeared in the haze.' tall, horned, with a sharplooking face and huge, staring eyes 'Oh, it's you,' Stoker muttered after an initial flutter of panic She distracted herself by fixing her blonde hair back in a short ponytail She guessed she looked a mess 'This is not good,' said the horned figure ominously 'Tell me something I don't know, Jaal.' 'I warned you that this was a Bad Place,' Jaal insisted 'I can sense the evil around us, living in the rock, waiting for its chance to strike.' 'Give it a rest, Jaal The situation is bad enough without your endless prophecies of doom Don't let me catch you telling any of the others that rubbish, d'you hear?' Vega Jaal looked at her balefully Stoker couldn't tell if she'd hurt his feelings, but she needed him on her side 'Come on, Jaal.' I know it's not possible for you to lighten up, but we all need to muck in here.' Vega Jaal gave a solemn nod, the best she could hope for 'Right,' Stoker said 'Where are the casualties?' He pointed back into the swirling fog of dust 'OK,' she said 'Leave this to me.' Stoker walked across to where a camp bed and a power lamp had been hastily set up The dust seemed to have thinned out a bit here, and for a few seconds she just stood and watched the Doctor attending to his patient He was tall, almost boyish with his fair hair and smooth skin, but he had broad shoulders and an intelligent look in his eyes The white running shoes he wore indicated an active lifestyle, but the rest of him - pale striped trousers and a long fawn coloured jacket, presented as much a mystery to Stoker as his name She was determined to keep an open mind, however Stoker's nose had been broken in a bar fight twenty years ago with the result that she now looked a hell of a lot tougher than she really was She played up to the image when it was into the gloom, but it was a futile gesture.' The shadows simply turned on the brave little light and crushed it The tip of the torch glowed for a moment longer and then began to fade 'No!' shouted Tegan The Dark hissed eagerly, drawing closer, filling the chamber The Doctor crossed the room in two quick strides and held Tegan firmly by the wrist 'Let it go,' he said 'What?' Tegan peered at his face in the semi-darkness The dying torch cast a sickly umber light across his features, turning them muddy in the gloom Like a ghost, he hardly seemed to be there at all 'Doctor?' 'There's nothing more we can do,' he said His voice sounded resigned but firm 'It's time to stand and face the Dark.' And with that, the last embers finally died, turning to grey ash for a second before the blackness claimed them The chamber was plunged into more than darkness.' Something massive and blacker than anything else surged into the air around them Tegan found herself discarding the spent torch and grasping hold of the Doctor; not for comfort, just for something or someone to anchor her space in the void 'Is it here?' she heard Nyssa whisper 'Very nearly,' replied the Doctor 'It needs total darkness to achieve a physical presence 'Then we've lost.' Was there ever any doubt that we would?' asked Tegan 'Never give up hope.' ordered the Doctor 'Remember, the Dark craves a physical existence in our universe.' once it's fully manifested it can't go back to its own dimension.' A thick, glutinous shadow poured into the chamber, distorting everything around it The space was moving, full of things they could not see crawling and seething, closer and closer It felt cold and wet, like something that lived beneath a stone Then, impossibly, they could see it: a formless mass, blacker than the pitch darkness, swelling out of nowhere The Dark arrived like something being retched from the back of reality's throat It filled the chamber like a giant black squid, tentacles of shadow thrashing around the room A cavernous maw split open and spurted a scream of exultation Then the writhing mass turned in on itself, stretching and contracting, reforming into another shape An even more unsettling shape At last,' said a voice that sounded like worms frying 'I live! I live! I live!' It was tall, barely discernible in the gloom, but shaped like a man Tegan thought she could make out long, lank hair hanging like rattails on its shoulders 'Hello,' the Doctor was saying 'So glad you could make it.' The black figure turned to face him There were small, sinuous things crawling all over its flesh, so many that the skin seemed to be in constant motion Tegan thought that she could just make out ragged coat tails hanging level with its knees The material of the coat was rotten and caked in filth, but with a start Tegan realised that the Dark presented the same silhouette as the Doctor The Doctor had not failed to notice this 'They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.' Something opened in the shadowy face with a wet, hollow noise A single word escaped from the orifice, born on dead breath, 'Doctor ' 'That's right I hope you won't mind if we don't shake hands.' 'You meaningless fragment of dirt,' whispered the Dark ‘I will make you suffer before you die!' 'Ah, straight into the insults and threats,' the Doctor said 'What a relief Saves time in the long run, don't you think?' 'Time,' growled the shadow as if savouring the word 'Yes I can feel it now, the very progress of the universe around me.' The Doctor was intrigued 'You mean you couldn't feel it before?' The eyes glittered like coal in the shadowy face as they regarded the Doctor 'Yes, what would you know of the endless, empty void that bore me? At last I can sense the soft, stealthy passage of time itself.' 'Well, perhaps congratulations are in order.' they say there's a first time for everything Even feeling the passing of time, I suppose.' The Dark hissed 'You don't understand, Doctor How could you? I have drifted, formless and outside of time, for uncountable millennia I have been forced to watch from the sidelines of a halfdimension, unable to interfere But not any more!' 'Ah yes, now about that, there seems to be a misunderstanding Correct me if I'm wrong, but you appear to believe that, through me, you will now be able to gain access to the rest of time and space ' the Doctor thrust his hands into his trouser pockets and rocked nonchalantly on his heels 'Well, I'm sorry but I'm afraid that is completely out of the question.' 'For all eternity I have waited for the chance, the means, to live fully and completely in your universe 'But you haven't been idle, have you? Your mind has existed within the planet Akoshemon since its formation lain waste to a thousand million years of that world's evolution, doomed by your will You have stirred civilisations into an endless cycle of self-destruction, and the worst kinds of corruption.' 'Hardly something to boast about,' added Tegan The Dark shrugged 'That time is over.' 'Ah, yes Now you're alive and kicking and ready to spread your malign influence across every world and every civilisation in the universe Courtesy of my TARDIS.' 'My consciousness sensed your little timecraft in the Vortex It required only a moment's thought to breach its meagre defences.' 'You mean me.' said Nyssa shakily The Dark let out its breathless laughter 'The last little orphan of a pitifully weak planet torn out of creation and flung, forgotten, into nowhere.' 'You violated my memory of Traken,' Nyssa said She took the smallest step forward, bravely turning her face up towards the towering figure of night 'Why?' 'Ah, last daughter of Traken You were simply the most receptive to my influence The way had already been cleared for me There was an empty space in your mind where Traken had once been; I simply filled that void.' The Doctor rested a hand gently on Nyssa's shoulder She stared back at the Dark and then lowered her gaze Tegan felt curiously as if something in her own mind was relaxing, uncoiling, satisfied that a threat had vanished It left her feeling perplexed, almost introspective She automatically looked to the Doctor for an explanation, but he was already speaking to the Dark again 'An intriguing plan, but you've overlooked something.' my TARDIS isn't for hire It's not an intergalactic taxi waiting to ferry you around the cosmos, spreading doom and disaster!' 'I have finally achieved the transition into your physical universe.' said the Dark 'I can anything.' The Doctor sighed loudly 'Your point being?' 'I now have absolute power over you all.' 'I beg to differ.' 'No, Doctor Not yet I will tell you when to beg.' 'You know, it's amazing,' the Doctor said 'The way your kind always has to throw its weight around Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?' 'But you have something I want, Doctor.' 'The TARDIS? I've already told you, you can't have it Is there anything else I could interest you in? I have a cricket bat signed by Mike Gatting, if you'd like that Worth a fair bit, now, I'd say.' 'On your knees!' the Dark roared 'I'd rather stand, thank you very much.' The Doctor suddenly let out a gasp of pain and dropped heavily to his knees 'That's better,' said the Dark 'Psychokinesis,' grunted the Doctor, now on all fours ‘A cheap trick.' 'But effective I've already touched you, Doctor.' you bear my mark! If I wanted to, I could make you act like the dog you are, Time Lord Running around on all fours, panting, with your tongue hanging out like that of the lowest mongrel.' The Doctor groaned as his mouth opened painfully and his tongue lolled out With an effort he regained control 'You can only pull strings,' he gasped 'I won't anything for you of my own free will.' 'Such presumption!' The Dark moved closer’s don't think you quite understand, Doctor I could make you behave like a frightened puppy, it's true But I'd rather you did it voluntarily.' The Doctor raised a hand and tentatively touched the shadowy mark on his face again It was ice cold, right through to the bone He could feel its evil The Doctor suddenly shook his head 'I think you'll find I fight for my principles 'Worm,' said the Dark The Doctor gagged and sank to the floor, as if pressed down flat by a giant hand Forced to prostrate himself, the Doctor came face to face with the corpse of Ravus Oldeman Oldeman's eyes were still open, dry and blind but still full of pain His expression was frozen into one of anger and torment The Doctor lay transfixed, almost unable to breathe The dead man's eyes bored into him and the Doctor experienced a sudden sense of importance, as if the man was trying to tell him something from the grave The Doctor blinked He was starting to hallucinate, surely Oldeman just lay there, unmoving, empty and lifeless The Dark cackled 'Do you doubt my power, Time Lord, even now?' 'Not at all,' the Doctor panted, struggling to his knees with as much dignity as he could muster 'I admit manifesting yourself out of nothing but darkness like that is a pretty good trick But telekinetic torture well, I've seen it before.' The Dark moved closer 'But I can sense your terror, Doctor Your juvenile prattling is the thinnest of disguises.' 'Is it really so obvious?' 'You seek to shore up your companions meagre courage with humour It won't work.' The Dark gave a throaty chuckle 'Your mind is overflowing with dread Your hearts are pulsing, faster and faster, as the blood races around your frail body in blind red panic I can even hear your hearts, Doctor, rushing through their last remaining beats in such a terrible hurry You're going to die soon - you know that, don't you?' 'Be that as it may,' said the Doctor stonily, 'I won't let you have the TARDIS.' 'Death after death,' the Dark reminded him ‘You’ve seen the future, Doctor You know it isn't good.' The Doctor climbed slowly to his feet A terrible weight seem to have descended on his shoulders ‘I haven't seen the future You're just trying to scare me with the prospect of death.' 'Death is your weakness!' spat the Dark 'All of you!' The Doctor gave him a sad smile 'But for us, death is inevitable.' A condition of our existence We live, we die Nothing can alter that.' 'You had better listen to him, you filth,' said a voice from the other side of the chamber It was Stoker She spoke from where she lay, still holding Lawrence's corpse 'You've had all you're going to get from us.' 'Vega Jaal, Bunny, Jim, all my friends and all the other people And the man I love! You can what the hell you like now because you just can't hurt us any more!' The Doctor looked across at Stoker and she caught his eye He nodded 'A facile argument!' roared the Dark 'But even if there is no fear in death then there is fear in life Humans fear me; they fear the dark! They learn to fear it from infancy - what they cannot see, or know, or understand.' 'Exactly!' the Doctor said 'Because fear of the dark is really just a fear of the unknown What can't be seen Like the future But I don't fight the future I fight for the future And I protect it from the things that thrive on the unknown Fear, Hostility, Cruelty, Injustice.' 'All the things I represent,' admitted the Dark 'But I too will fight for my principles.' 'Then it's you against me,' replied the Doctor He left the statement to drift for a long moment before adding, almost as an afterthought, 'So how come you haven't killed me yet?' Something bubbled inside the Dark and it took a step towards the Doctor The Doctor stood his ground ‘Shall I tell everyone,' he asked lightly, 'or would you prefer to?' The Dark moved towards him again, lips drawing back from sharp black teeth The Doctor looked at his companions and said, 'You see, I've just realised I have something the Dark wants very badly And I don't just mean the TARDIS.' The Dark's mouth open, oily saliva hanging from its lips The Doctor turned back and stared it in the eye 'There's something else you want, isn't there? Something you hadn't anticipated in your great, greedy plan for universal domination Which, I have to say, is quite the most ludicrous of schemes! Only a mind warped by an eternity spent bringing terror and cruelty to one single planet could have thought of it And, of course, one that had been warped by something else perhaps ' The Dark hissed explosively, spraying blackness through the heavy air 'Give me want I want, Time Lord, and you alone shall live.' The Doctor smiled sadly and turned again to Tegan and Nyssa ‘You see, having taken on a physical form based on the human blood it absorbed, the Dark is now subject to the same physical needs of its donors - including the late Professor Ravus Oldeman.' 'Give me what I need!' roared the Dark 'Give me it!' 'What?' said the Doctor 'This?' He drew his hand from his pocket and held up an injector 'What is it?' asked Tegan 'Neurolectrin,' said the Doctor 'The Dark has inherited Ravus Oldeman's condition and his addiction to the neurolectrin I should have realised when it made me search the laboratory for the drug before I did realise it just now, when I saw Ravus Oldeman's body again The Dark wants the TARDIS, certainly, but at the moment it wants this more.' The Dark lunged for the injector and the Doctor skipped back out of reach 'Sorry But I don't think you deserve it.' 'Imbecile,' snarled the Dark The Doctor took another step back, but suddenly found himself trapped by the Bloodhunter He hadn't noticed it behind him in the darkness 'My loyal servant,' sneered the Dark 'You have gone far enough, Doctor.' The Doctor convulsed, letting out a sharp cry of pain and dropping to one knee 'I can control your every movement,' the Dark said 'Don't tell me you have forgotten my cheap trick so soon?' The Doctor groaned as the mental pressure forced him to raise the hand holding the neurolectrin 'No witty riposte, Time Lord?' the Dark inquired as it moved closer It leaned over the Doctor, pushing its diseased, black face into his 'No clever deception?' The hand holding the neurolectrin began to shake as the Doctor fought for control The fingers and knuckles turned white around the injector as the hand began to turn The Doctor's teeth ground together as his face paled with the exertion 'I have an idea,' whispered the Dark 'Why don't you take the neurolectrin?' The Doctor's eyes widened fractionally His hand, controlled by the Dark, moved slowly towards his own throat, twisting the injector into position The tip trembled against his skin, ready to deliver the dose 'It won't harm me,' the Doctor protested 'I know ' The Dark leant closer, close enough for the Doctor to see the-tiny black worms wriggling on its tongue and lips 'But I could squeeze it back out of you like blood from an open wound.' 'An easy victory,' gasped the Doctor 'Wouldn't you say?' 'I'd be disappointed,' replied the Dark, 'if I had expected anything else.' 'Then take away the mark,' the Doctor panted 'You touched my face and left your mark You're using it to control me somehow Remove it and let me it myself!' 'You would inject the drug into yourself of your own free will?' The Dark sounded sceptical But the Doctor nodded 'On one condition.' The Dark snorted 'Go on.' 'Do what you will with me but spare my friends.' 'Do you really believe that I would honour such a bargain?' The Doctor, trembling as he fought the psychokinesis, let out a desperate sob 'I don't know B-but it's all I have left!' The Dark seemed to consider this as the Doctor sagged against the Bloodhunter Clearly weakening, the Doctor said, 'Please!' Ah! Now you beg!' 'I c-can't fight you m-much longer ' 'I know.' The Dark leant closer, staring into the Doctor's painwracked face 'So much for principles But you wish to make your last act in life your own Very well.' The grey mark on the side of the Doctor's face gathered into a black pustule and burst through the skin The poisoned blood oozed down his face and dripped away into the shadows 'Thank you,' he gasped Then the Doctor whipped around and stabbed the injector straight into the Bloodhunter The Dark bellowed with rage and surged forward, suddenly relinquishing its human shape in a flailing mass of tentacles and snapping jaws It fell on the Bloodhunter as the creature staggered backwards, the neurolectrin injector sticking out of its chest like a tiny arrow The Doctor had thrown himself to one side and rolled clear Tegan and Nyssa helped him to his feet as the air was filled with a terrible, bone-freezing scream The Dark had returned to a roughly human shape, a black shadow bearing down on the Bloodhunter The Bloodhunter responded automatically, latching onto the Dark and forcing its own tentacles and probes deep inside the blackness And there it found the blood; the same blood that had been used to reconstitute the ashes of the original Dark 'What's happening?' yelled Tegan 'The Dark wants the neurolectrin,' shouted the Doctor 'The Bloodhunter wants blood.' The Bloodhunter opened up like a side of meat under a cleaver as the Dark tore into it The screams were unmerciful 'They're feeding on each other,' realised Nyssa The two beasts writhed and screeched Although maddened, the Bloodhunter began to succumb to its own wounds Sensing its weakness, the Dark went into a frenzy and suddenly the Bloodhunter was torn apart The Dark literally wrenched it in half and threw the quivering flesh across the chamber For a moment there was a stunned silence Then the Dark turned and advanced on the Doctor ‘Pitiful thing,' it snarled 'A presumptuous trick, doomed to failure! You cannot destroy me! I am death!' The Dark's black hands fastened around the Doctor's neck The Doctor gasped and crumpled, his face screwed into a mask of pain But still he managed to speak through gritted teeth, ‘It’s not over yet!' 'It is now,' said Stoker The Dark twisted its head towards Stoker She was standing right next to them, holding a gun Through a scarlet haze the Doctor recognised it as Cadwell's DSA automatic The muzzle flashed and the Dark's head jerked sideways Instantly its grip on the Doctor weakened, allowing him to tear free He crawled away and turned, just in time to see Stoker fire the next shot The Dark rocked back, a jet of black ichor flying from its skull The Dark shuddered and gagged, unable to comprehend what was happening 'I'm glad you came to life,' said Stoker, advancing on the monster ‘It means you can die.' The Dark grabbed Stoker and pulled her close, one giant hand grasped her head and twisting But even as her neck snapped, Stoker squeezed the trigger on Cadwell's gun and the last round was discharged The barrel of the gun was stuck deep into the Dark's throat The back of its neck exploded, flinging black blood and gristle across the chamber For a long time the two figures remained together in a macabre hug Eventually Stoker's lifeless body slipped from the embrace and fell to the floor The Dark staggered backwards, choking on its own blood A look of incredulous horror filled its gleaming black eyes 'Is it dying?' Nyssa asked The Doctor stared impassively at the stumbling figure 'I don't know But having taken on a physical form in our universe, the Dark is finally subject to the same physical rules as we are It can die That, remember, is a condition of our existence.' A pool of thick, black blood had opened out beneath the struggling monster, oozing slowly down into the empty pit at the centre of the chamber The Dark wavered on the very edge of the pit ‘So ' The voice was now a wet rasp of hate 'Your own cheap trick, Doctor.' The Doctor shook his head ‘Killing is no trick It's all too easy.' The Dark spat out a brittle laugh ‘The irony is not lost on me.' 'I don't rejoice in death I don't believe in violence or cruelty Where I can, I try to save life.' The Dark swayed, and seemed to wither before them Its midnight blood gushed from the wounds in its head and neck and spread across the floor The voice had now fallen to a whisper ‘Then prove it.' Save me!' The Doctor started forward, but Tegan held him back 'Don't go near it!' He shrugged her hand away and stepped around the wide expanse of blood 'I've already failed here.' the Doctor said, and pushed the Dark back into the open pit It fell with a heavy crunch into the shadows Immediately, there was a sudden, thrashing mass of blackness that defied identification; something reared up from the morass, a head perhaps, with a pair of small, almost human eyes wide with agony and despair Beneath the eyes was a sagging mouth full of jagged black fangs and membranous spittle The eyes fixed the Doctor with a terrible, imploring glare 'Save me!' it screamed 'I can't,' the Doctor said Help me!' The Doctor moved closer, clearly anguished ‘I can't,' he repeated 'I can't.' 'Help me!' the dark mass screeched, spraying the air with blood and filth Thin strands of blackness leapt from the pit, lashing at the Doctor with desperate ferocity He fell back, watching the sinuous cords whip back and forth in an effort to locate him The strands groped at the air like the legs of a huge, dying spider; leaving a trail of blood wherever they touched The blood boiled and sizzled and then ran back down into the pit Then, impossibly, the thing inside the pit began to pull itself back out, heaving its shrunken torso up on the spindly legs extruded across the chamber 'It won't die!' Tegan yelled Several eyes snapped open inside the writhing mass and glared madly about the chamber 'It's got to burn.' realised the Doctor suddenly ‘Of course!' The Dark lashed out towards him and he dived over to where Stoker lay She still hadn't moved The Doctor quickly went through the pockets of her vest until he found the cigarette lighter It felt uncomfortably empty The Dark was out of the pit, trailing black slime It started to crawl towards the Doctor like a giant, oil-soaked spider 'Doctor!' cried Nyssa She was throwing something to him Bunny Cheung's bionic arm skidded to a halt by his feet The Doctor snatched it up and tore at the synthetic skin until he had exposed the machinery beneath Then he lit the cigarette lighter and jammed it underneath the arm's power cell Something inside the arm must have been flammable because fire burst out immediately and singed the Doctor's hand He swung the burning limb awkwardly into the path of the Dark The flames disappeared into its oily gut as, squealing and spitting, the Dark raised itself for a final lunge Then the power cell in Bunny's arm exploded Bright fingers of flame rose up and grasped the Dark, igniting the film of black ooze that covered it It shrieked and howled and threw itself backwards The flames followed it into the pit With a terrible cry, the thing rose shakily in one final grab for freedom But the burning tendrils of blackness that formed its limbs could not support it and it sank, with a snapping crunch, back into the well The fire took hold and it began to quiver uncontrollably, spitting and sizzling It took a full minute before the thing stopped moving altogether Eventually, even its nervous twitching ceased and the monster lay still in death The flames ate noisily through its remains The Doctor turned away from the decrepit spectacle, his face grim He rested his hands on his companions' shoulders, as if offering reassurance, but also taking comfort from their presence 'Horrible,' said Tegan with a sob The Doctor moved to where Stoker had fallen She lay with the unnatural slackness of death, her head at an ugly angle But in the exposed flesh of her neck, a tiny pulse could be seen The Doctor knelt down and touched her face 'She's breathing.' he announced with some astonishment 'It's faint, but she's alive ' Tegan and Nyssa knelt down by Stoker as her eyelids fluttered open Her eyes were like little pools of melting honey They gazed up at the Doctor but did not focus on him Her jaw worked as she tried to speak 'Has it gone?' 'Yes.' the Doctor said Stoker's eyes closed softly 'Then I can go now ' Then she smoothly, silently, relaxed into oblivion The pulse in her throat slowly faded 'Death after death.' the Doctor said quietly Epilogue The Doctor pulled the lever that controlled the TARDIS doors They whirred shut behind him and sealed out the rest of the universe For a few seconds he simply stared at the control console, lost in thought 'I can't believe we're back in the TARDIS,' said Tegan gratefully 'Safe at last.' 'Is that true, Doctor?' Nyssa asked 'Are we safe, now?' The Doctor nodded 'The Dark's consciousness died with its physical form It can't reach us now.' 'How can you be sure?' Nyssa pressed 'It was destroyed once before, remember.' 'Not like this.' 'What actually happened back there, Doctor?' Tegan wondered 'I thought the Dark couldn't be stopped.' 'It couldn't Not in its original form anyway - an immortal, evil intelligence left over from the remnants of the universe that existed before this one It around the cosmos like a ghost searching for a way to exist properly It nearly managed it on Akoshemon But when it finally succeeded in taking on life, it sacrificed its immortality.' 'I thought you'd got it when you did that trick with the neurolectrin.' 'Ah, well That was a pretty desperate ploy, I admit But I'd seen Stoker, with Silas Cadwell's gun She was waiting for her chance In the end that's all I could do.' 'Did you realise I mean, did you think that she would be killed as well?' The Doctor glared at Tegan 'How could I?' Tegan glanced at Nyssa Both felt a little troubled by the Doctor's solemn attitude It wasn't like him to be so taciturn 'At the end when the Dark was dying in the pit, asking you to help it ' 'Begging me to help it, Tegan.' 'Whatever Were you going to?' The Doctor sighed and leant forward on the console 'No It was merely trying to lure me closer One last chance to kill me.' 'It would never have got the TARDIS if it had killed you,' said Nyssa The Doctor began to operate the TARDIS controls ‘No, but it was motivated by the need for revenge, for destruction and death That is all it had ever known, all it had ever believed in.' 'Then good riddance to it,' said Tegan 'Why be so glum about it?' 'I was just thinking about all the people who died,' the Doctor said, as he flipped switches and twisted dials with great deliberation And those that very nearly perished.' 'You mean us,' said Nyssa 'We were the only ones to survive,' said Tegan heavily 'None of us is indestructible' The Doctor looked grave 'I thought I'd lost both of you at least once on this trip.' Nyssa touched his arm ‘But we're still here' 'More by luck than design, I fear? 'Stop blaming yourself, Doctor,' Tegan said 'You took the risks as well as us The important thing is that we survived, at least.' 'Yes, we should be thankful for that, I suppose.' The Doctor remained lost in thought, perhaps contemplating the moment when he had thought he had reached the end of the line, too, had been forced to look death in the face He shivered 'But there were many, many lives that were lost and destroyed because of the Dark.' 'You mean Vega Jaal, and Bunny and the others,' said Nyssa 'And Captain Lawrence and Stoker,' said Tegan 'Yes, all of them,' the Doctor agreed 'But also the people of Akoshemon An innocent world corrupted and brutalised by the Dark's presence from its very beginnings All the people we met in the last couple of days, and who lost their lives, amount to little more than that - ' the Doctor clicked his fingers - 'compared to the billions of lives twisted and ruined by evil on that planet.' The Doctor's cold tone provoked an uncomfortable pause For a few seconds his companions watched the Time Lord resetting the TARDIS co-ordinates 'What are you thinking?' asked Nyssa 'That I could use the TARDIS to travel back in time, far enough back in time to prevent the Dark merging with Akoshemon during its creation Avert the death and suffering of an otherwise doomed world And thus, perhaps, eventually save the lives of Stoker and her mining team and Captain Lawrence and his crew.' Tegan said, 'You know you can't that It's impossible.' The Doctor tapped the console irritably 'I know I know But sometimes it's very hard to understand why There are so many things that can be altered, put right Made better.' 'You're thinking of Adric again,' Nyssa said The Doctor looked up sharply but didn't reply He didn't need to say anything, because the answer was plain to see in his troubled gaze.' I'm always thinking of Adric.' 'What's done is done, Doctor,' said Tegan 'That's what my Aunt Vanessa always used to say Just because we can materialise before or after "what's done" doesn't make any difference.' The Doctor frowned slightly as he thought this through and then managed a faint smile 'Do you know, Tegan, I think you've just managed to summarise all the Laws of Time put together.' Nyssa couldn't let this pass Rather more primly than she intended, she said, 'Surely it's not really as simple as all that!' 'No,' agreed the Doctor 'But it will us for now, don't you think?' He dematerialised the TARDIS and the glass column at the centre of the console began its soothing motion And, almost as if the ship's transition into the spacetime vortex erased all that had gone before, the Doctor's face cleared and his tone lightened He clapped his hands together decisively 'Now, I was thinking.' it's high time both of you learnt to read some of the TARDIS star charts ' 'Not just yet, Doctor,' protested Tegan 'I don't know about Nyssa, but I'm beat I've got to get some sleep.' 'Yes,' agreed Nyssa 'I think we could all with a rest.' The Doctor looked disappointed 'Well, all right then In the morning, perhaps.' They nodded gratefully and left the console room The Doctor stayed behind, leaning on the console and staring into the bright lights of the time rotor, where the past and future mixed to form endless possible presents Exhausted, Tegan and Nyssa retired to their quarters and fell into a dreamless slumber Both slept with the lights on ... FEAR OF THE DARK TREVOR BAXENDALE Prologue Every dream exists on the precipice of nightmare Nowhere else but in the subconscious is the divide between comfort and... out the edge of the bed itself, although beyond it there was nothing but the dark It was exactly the same darkness that Traken had left in its place Nyssa experienced a nauseating sense of peering... her There was something in her room with her Something that breathed Rigid with fear, she watched the finger of blackness spread out into something the size of a hand Then it started up the bed